Americana short film festival

America in all its “greatness, virtues and contradictions” is the subject for a series of short films, taking place at 93 Feet East in Brick Lane on Wednesday, January 20.

The screening is the initiative of Filippo Polesel and Michele Fiascaris, founders of ‘Shorts on Tap’, a London-based short film screening platform for both up and coming and established filmmakers. It was created three years ago to let filmmakers exhibit their works twice a month “across London and beyond” and give them exposure. They have previously showcased in Tokyo and are heading to Berlin next month.

Americana is part of ‘Road Map’, a series that offers “an exploration of different cultures through short films”, focusing on international cinema.

Polesel and Fiascaris chose seven films to be showcased in ‘Americana’ from over 50 applications. These movies, including ‘Angels of Anbar’, ‘Penny Dreadful’ and ‘South Platte’, depict the United States from different perspectives.

Polesel told Eastlondonlines: “The idea came from last year’s event, called ‘Tokyo Calling’. We did another one called ‘Corto Metrajes’, which means ‘Spanish short films’, and another one called ‘Bloody Foreigners’. We thought, why don’t we do a series – each time a different country, how people think in different parts of the world, driven by curiosity?”

‘Shorts on Tap’ was created three years ago at the bar ‘Juno Shoreditch’. Polesel said of the venue: “Shoreditch came very naturally as a choice because it is a very vibrant area of London, very artistic, very creative and very accessible as well. We’ve got lots of filmmakers living there, lots of production companies and distribution companies. So we thought that was ‘the area’.”

Producer and columnist for The Londonist Ioanna Karavela, who already attended one of the events, told ELL: “Our habits of experiencing content have changed. Shorts are back but are not to be compared to features.” She added: “People that don’t go to short film festivals go to [Polesel’s] nights. People that are only just starting and would feel very out of place if the event were more formal, go to his nights. ‘Shorts on Tap’ is like a good pop-up food joint – it pops up in the hipster land of Shoreditch and shows a lot of diverse work.”

The event starts at 7pm with drinks and networking, followed by the screenings at 8pm.